Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of amendment No. 99b is to show the Minister that the phrase, "the objective that the membership of the judiciary should comprise equal numbers of men and women", is somewhat skewed. It is perfectly compatible with the current phraseology that there could be a predominance of women in the District and Circuit Courts, and a predominance of men in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. The amendment makes it clear that gender equality should be respected as a general proposition at all levels of the courts. It does not satisfy the view of most people on gender fairness that while there might be equal numbers among the 160 judges - I have forgotten the exact figure - if we dig down, we find that women are predominant in the lower courts and men are predominant in the higher courts. That is hardly what the Minister set out to achieve. The amendment proposes that the general policy objective that women should be represented equally in the Judiciary should apply at every level and we should not simply look at it in the lump, so to speak. If we were to do that, having 80 women judges in the District Court would count as equality despite having no representation of women in the higher courts. That is what my amendment is supposed to achieve.